| Gold is one of the metals taken from the earth and is | | | | personal ornaments, as the savage found it easy to |
| probably the first metal known to man. Its first use has | | | | beat out the pure ore into circlets to adorn his limbs. |
| been traced back to 3600 B. C. and was probably | | | | The universal use of gold in preference to all other |
| originally obtained in Egypt, as the ancient methods of | | | | metals is due to its many properties; its color and luster, |
| obtaining gold in Egypt are illustrated in early rock | | | | its malleability and its indestructibility. Gold does not |
| carvings. It is said in the book of Genesis that | | | | tarnish nor can it be destroyed. It may be reduced to a |
| Abraham, in the twentieth century B. C., when he went | | | | liquid and the liquid transferred to a powder, and the |
| out of Egypt, was very rich not only in cattle but in gold | | | | powder when melted in a crucible returns to its natural |
| and silver both in dust and ingots. In Exodus xxv, 29, | | | | state. It is the most malleable of all metals and has |
| we read that Moses was commanded by the Lord to | | | | been hammered into leaves 1-282,000th of an inch |
| make spoons of gold for the Tabernacle. In the | | | | thick. An ounce of gold may be drawn out into a wire |
| writings of Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus, Pliny and | | | | fifty miles long. The tenacity of gold is seven tons per |
| others, gold is frequently mentioned. | | | | square inch. |
| Gold is widely distributed in nature and is found in many | | | | Pure gold, being too soft for all ordinary purposes, is |
| ways and in all parts of the world. It is found in water, | | | | generally alloyed with other metals. Silver and copper |
| in the ice of Alaska, in the sand of South Africa, and in | | | | are the principal alloys used, although iron is used in |
| the quartz of Colorado, and is frequently found native, | | | | small quantities for different purposes. Pure silver has a |
| though usually alloyed with silver or iron. The purest | | | | brilliant white color and is the whitest of all metals. No |
| specimens of native gold have yielded from 96 to 99 | | | | metal surpasses silver in its luster and hardness it |
| per cent, pure metal. | | | | ranges between pure gold and pure copper. It is more |
| It is remarkable that all of the races of mankind have | | | | fusible than copper or gold, melting at a bright red heat |
| selected gold as the first and chief representative of | | | | or at 1873F. It is commonly used for the purpose of |
| value. In the earliest times it was used as a medium of | | | | alloying gold in its pure state, but if too much is added it |
| exchange in the form of bars, spikes and rings; the | | | | makes the gold pale. Pure copper is the only metal that |
| rings could be opened and closed so that a chain could | | | | has a reddish appearance. It is both malleable and |
| be made for convenience in carrying. Gold was also | | | | ductile; hence it is very useful as an alloy for gold. |
| used at a very early period for the construction of | | | | |